All your questions about donation, answered

No. There are strict laws that protect the potential donor. Legal guidelines must be followed before death can be certified. The physician certifying a patient’s death is not involved with the eye procurement or with the transplant. Additionally, it would be an absolutely deplorable act to harm one person, even to help another.


The decision to donate with www.save7lives.org should be shared with family and friends. Next-of-kin cooperation with a medical/social history interview is required before transplantation, so it is helpful if your family and friends know how you feel about donation.


No. Eye, organ, and tissue donations are consistent with the beliefs and attitudes of major religions. For information on a specific religion, contact the eye bank. For more information regarding religious perspectives on donation, please see the following website: http://www.organdonor.gov/donation/religious_views.htm


Great care is taken to preserve the donor’s appearance. Funeral arrangements, including viewing if desired, routinely proceed as scheduled. The donor's body is treated with respect at all times.

Donors and eye tissues are carefully evaluated. Corneas determined unsuitable for transplant may be used for medical research or education purposes, if the next-of-kin has consented to this use.

Research on glaucoma, retinal diseases like macular degeneration, eye complications of diabetes, and other sight disorders help advance the discovery of the causes and effects of these conditions. This can then lead to new treatments, and possibly cures. Additionally, the next generation of surgeons may learn surgical techniques on donated tissue. Regardless of whether tissue is used for research and education, there is no substitute for these invaluable gifts.


Our fight against blindness and the transplantation process depend upon the priceless gift of eye tissue donated from one human to the next. There is no substitute for human tissue. Eye tissue recovered and determined unsuitable for transplant use may be used for research or education if the next-of-kin has consented to this use.